In this prayerful, informative and moving film we look specifically at the inspiring life of one of the three shepherd children visited by Our Lady in 1917. Blessed Francisco was born on 11 June 1908, the sixth of seven children of Manuel and Olimpia Marto.

2017 celebrates the 100th anniversary of Our Lady’s visits to the three children of Fatima with an important message of repentance, penance and prayer for the world.

We filmed our own visuals for our film about Blessed Francisco in 2010 with a lovely (and mischievous) boy from our parish. He portrayed Blessed Francisco beautifully.

Blessed Francisco Marto was a handsome boy, with light hair and dark eyes. He loved games and other children, yet without the spirit of competition. He would not complain when treated unfairly, and gave up a treasured possession (a handkerchief stamped with the image of Our Lady) rather than contend for it. He was a peacemaker, but courageous, as his conduct under questioning by the Mayor would later show. He also had a mischievous turn. He was known to drop strange and inedible objects in his sleeping brother’s mouth. He had a love for nature, and animals in particular. He played with lizards and snakes, and would bring them home, to his mother’s chagrin. Once he gave a penny, all the money he had, to a friend for a captured bird, only to set the bird free. He played a reed pipe, to which Lucia and his sister Jacinta would sing and dance. In short, he was a kind, gentle boy, not yet a Saint, but one predisposed by God for the graces soon bestowed on him.

Alone among the three, Francisco never heard the Lady’s words, although he saw her and felt her presence. After the first apparition, Lucia conveyed the Lady’s message to him, that he would go to heaven if he prayed many Rosaries. In the second apparition, Lucia asked to be taken to heaven, and the Lady replied that Francisco and Jacinta would be taken soon, but Lucia would have to wait for a time. She died February 13, 2005 at the age of 97. In the third apparition, the children were given a secret, including a vision of hell, which so changed them that they became more like adults than children. At this time the Mayor of the district, Artur de Oliveira Santos, a Freemason, devised a scheme to discredit the apparitions by terrorizing the children.

He tried to bully them into admitting they lied, threatened to boil them in oil if they withheld the Lady’s “Secret” (Francisco showed extravagant courage in anticipation of going to heaven), and jailed them to keep them from their appointment with the Lady on the day of the fourth apparition (August 13). They kept their appointment two days later. For the fifth apparition, tens of thousands attended, having been alerted by the press to the Mayor’s controversy with the children. Among the curious was a seminary professor from Santarem, Dr. Manuel Formigao, who questioned the children afterward and became convinced of their veracity.

When the public learned of a miracle promised for the next appointed day, many resolved to be there, and on October 13 perhaps 70 thousand people were present for the miracle of the sun.

After the apparitions ended, Francisco was enrolled in school but played truant as often as possible. He preferred to spend time praying to the “Hidden Jesus” in the Tabernacle. His great concern was to console His sorrowing Lord and the Heart of His Mother. When asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, Francisco answered, “I don’t want to be anything. I want to die and go to heaven.”

In July this year we were out and about the wild and rustic fields and meadows of Sussex, filming visuals for several new films that we are working on to tell the lives of the Saints in a prayerful and spiritual encounter through DVD. The films will be available from our online shops, keep an eye out for the release of our film ‘Saint Bernadette of Lourdes’ : www.marysdowryprodutions.org and

Our film about Saint Bernadette looks especially at her love of, and devotion to, the Holy Rosary, which was a constant part of her life. Saint Bernadette is most famous for her connection with Lourdes. In our film we look at the eighteen apparitions of Our Lady as well as key moments in the life of Saint Bernadette. We filmed a selection of visuals of Saint Bernadette which will, as usual, run beneath a narrative in our film. Saint Bernadette has left us some beautiful and inspiring thoughts and especially a powerful example of simplicity, prayer and devotion.

Here are some of Bernadette’s thoughts and reflections taken from her notebook:

“O Jesus, You Who were forsaken have become the refuge of forsaken souls. Your love teaches me that I must gain the strength I need to endure being abandoned by seeing how You were abandoned. I am persuaded that the most terrible abandonment I could experience would be to have no part in Yours. By Your Death, You gave me life; You delivered me from the suffering I deserved by suffering in my place. Because of what You endured on the Cross, our Heavenly Father will not desert me. He is never closer to me through His Mercy that when I am most united with You in Your abandonment.”

“A righteous person is a victim and his life a continual sacrifice. For love of Jesus, I will fight against my own desires even in the most insignificant matters.”

“The Christian life does indeed mean battles and trials, but it also means consolations. And though I must leave Tabor and climb to Calvary, one day I will leave Calvary with Jesus and return to Tabor. A foretaste of Heaven awaits me there. My soul follows but one path: from Golgotha to Tabor. It leaves Golgotha to seek strength and courage at Tabor. Life is such a ladder.”

“I must work with all my strength to destroy self-love and self interest.” “Jesus keep me under the standard of Your Cross. May the crucifix not be just something I wear, something I look at, but let it be alive in my heart. Let me transformed into a living crucifixion, in union with You through the Eucharist. By meditating on Your life and the most intimate feelings of Your Heart, let me draw souls to You from high on this Cross where Your Love holds me forever.”

-Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. We will be working on this film over the summer and hope to release it as soon as possible. Visit our websites for the DVD release as well as the whole library of our films about the lives of the Saints and English Martyrs of the Church:

As well as looking at the life of Saint Joan of Arc, we look at the prayer to celebrate the canonisation of Joan of Arc which was written by Saint Therese of Lisieux, as well as a play written by Saint Therese on the life of Saint Joan of Arc.

We originally hoped to be able to include a few photographs that Celine took of Saint Therese as Saint Joan of Arc in the end segment of our film but were unable to do this so we happily recreated the images as best as we could. We love to recreate the Saints in our own way and were pleased to be able to recreate Saint Therese portraying Saint Joan for this final segment in our film.We hope to finish our film about ‘Saint Joan of Arc’ soon and release it on DVD through our online shops: www.marysdowryproductions.orgwww.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

Saint Joan of Arc has a very inspiring story and we were able to film specific moments from her life this summer. Our images are presented as moving paintings in which the music and narrative combine to draw the viewer into a spiritual, prayerful and informative encounter with the Saint. Saint Therese of Lisieux dressed as Saint Joan of Arc and performed her play on January 21, 1895. Saint Therese called Saint Joan of Arc her spiritual sister. She wrote:

“When I was beginning to learn the history of France, the account of Joan of Arc’s exploits delighted me; I felt in my heart the desire and the courage to imitate her”

This year we also filmed some visuals for Saint Bernadette of Lourdes and have started on our film about Mary Tudor. Visit our websites for full DVD listings.

About Mary’s Dowry Productions
By Bernadette Bevans
Co-Founder and Co-Director

Mary’s Dowry Productions is named for Our Lady.
Tradition tells us that England was first consecrated to the Blessed Virgin as Her Dowry by Saint Edward the Confessor and that England has always held a special place in Mary’s heart. In 2007 my sister Emily and I felt so inspired by the lives of the saints, particularly our English saints and martyrs, that we wished to present these stories in a way that would inspire others too. I had a background in music composition and Emily in media and film. Having grown up in A&B Diocese and living not far from Arundel, we had visited the Cathedral many times for events such as confirmation but it struck us that we did not know a great deal about Saint Philip Howard whose tomb is there. We decided we would create a film on his life which would be inspiring and uplifting and help people to encounter this great saint.

Saint Philip Howard DVD by Mary’s Dowry Productions

We use the format of DVD so that anybody can pop a DVD in their player and encounter a saints’ life immediately. Using the simple means that were available to us at the time has led to the creation of a new form of film media to present the lives of the saints. We try to recreate stunning silent visuals, informative, devotional narration and original contemplative music that touches the spirit and draws the viewer into a spiritual encounter with the saint. We wanted to achieve more than just films, but spiritual films that really capture the atmosphere and essence of an individual saint and not just information about them. Our DVD on St. Philip Howard helped us to learn about this saint too and has led us to produce films on other English Martyrs such as St. Edmund Campion, St. Margaret Clitherow; Anglo-Saxon saints like St. Cuthman of Steyning, St. Etheldreda; and popular saints like St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Avila also. Our visuals over the years have become more creative, we try to incorporate local scenes and landmarks into the films and some of the saints we choose are very unknown but whose stories are remarkable and relevant today. Our films seek to offer a window into the lives of our saints so, using your spiritual senses we invite you to shut out the world, sit prayerfully and peacefully and go on a journey of faith, history and prayer with the saints. Our growing catalogue of DVDs and music CDs now numbers over 70 films which are all available online at www.marysdowryproductions.org
andwww.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

Margaret Middleton married John Clitherow, butcher and grazier, a freeman of the city of York, in 1571, and shortly afterwards became a Catholic. During the following twelve years her house was a refuge for priests, whom she received at her own peril, and she brought up her children in the faith; her husband was not a Catholic, but seems not to have hampered his wife’s activities. For her persistent recusancy, Margaret was several times put in prison, even for two years together, but her sufferings only increased her fervour. “Were it not,” she said, “for my husband and children I would rather stay there always, apart from the world with God.” She was most attentive to the care of her house, witty, cheerful and good-looking, and her constancy and patience never failed. Her husband was later to say of her, “Let them take all I have and save her, for she is the best wife in all England, and the best Catholic.” She has, he said, only two faults, fasting too much and refusing to go to church. On 10 March 1586 Mr Clitherow was summoned before the council at York, and in his absence his house was searched. The priest in hiding there escaped, but Margaret and her children were taken. Enraged at their failure, the searchers terrorized a Flemish boy of twelve years, staying in the house, till he showed them the priest’s room and where the church stuff was kept. At her trial, lest her children might be forced by evidence to be guilty of her blood, Margaret refused to plead, on the ground that she had committed no offence. At her second examination she again refused to plead, saying there was no evidence against her save that of children, whom you can make say anything by a stick or an apple. An Anglican clergyman who was present boldly protested to the bench against the iniquity of the proceedings. The judge urged her to demand a jury, but in vain, and she was sentenced to be pressed to death, the ancient penalty for standing mute to a charge of felony. Margaret told the judge that, if this was his conscientious judgement, she prayed God to give him a better judgement in future. Forbidden to see husband or child, pestered by people who tried to shake her resolution, Margaret yet thanked God for all that was befalling her. The judge unwillingly issued an order for the execution on the following Friday (25th March 1586). Margaret had prepared herself by fasting and prayer; but she begged for a woman to be with her during the night, for, “though death is comfort,” she said, “the flesh is frail.” As no one could be admitted, the keeper’s wife sat with her for a while. The first hours of the night Margaret passed on her knees in prayer, clothed in a linen habit made by herself for her passion. At three she laid herself flat on the stones for a quarter of an hour, then rested on her bed. At eight the sheriff and his officers came, and with them she walked barefoot, going along through the crowd to the Tolbooth. There, turning from those present, she knelt and prayed by herself. Then she laid herself on the ground clothed only in the linen habit, her face covered with a handkerchief, her hands outstretched and bound as if on a cross. The weighted door was laid on her; at the first crushing pain she cried, “Jesu, Jesu, Jesu have mercy on me,” and after a quarter of an hour passed to God. So died Saint Margaret Clitherow, of whom it was said that “everybody loved her.”

Reading from Mementoes of the Confessors and Martyrs of England and Wales by Henry Sebastian Bowden of the Oratory. (Imaged used in the post taken from the DVDs ‘Saint Margaret Clitherow’ and ‘The Shining Pearl of York’ by Mary’s Dowry Productions)

Our NEW DVD about Saint David of Wales is NOW available worldwide, region free, from our online shop. This 30 minute film invites the viewer to take a prayerful and informative journey with one of our well known and inspiring British Saints. Saint David was a monk and bishop who left a great example of simplicity, joy and prayer to the Universal Church. In this film we walk with Saint David as he treads the path Our Lord lay out for him, with humility, zeal and holiness. We look at the life Saint David and his monks led, the miracles that occurred by his hand and the shining example he has left us today. An original music score accompanies the narration to create an atmosphere of reflection, prayer and joy. Imagery includes a simple variety of footage showing Saint David at prayer and journeying over the hills and woodlands of Wales. This original film is available on DVD through our online shop at: www.marysdowryproductions.org

Our NEW DVD about Saint John Houghton is now available through our online shop worldwide region free. The film follows the life of this humble and holy Carthusian Prior who was one of the Protomartyrs of the English Reformation. It looks briefly at his early life and lingers reflectively upon his prayerful and spiritual example given during his time as Prior of the London Charterhouse. When the good religious of Tudor England were called upon to deny the Pope as head of the Church and accept the English Monarch, King Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the Church of England, Saint John Houghton refused. We follow him to the Tower of London, his trial and his final, beautiful witness to the Catholic Faith in England at Tyburn in London where he gave his life. His most famous quote took place as he was dying. The executioner held up his heart and Saint John Houghton breathed, “Good Jesus, what will You do with my heart?” He is an English Martyr, one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales and an English Saint. The music that accompanies the narration is meditative and absorbing, the visuals include sacred art and original imagery that we filmed portraying Saint John Houghton at prayer, teaching, in his cell, at trial, in the Tower of London and at the gallows. This is a spiritual and prayerful journey with one of our English Martyrs, suitable for people of faith and those interested in history. It is now available from our online shop at: www.marysdowryproductions.org

Father Persons, being regarded as a most active and dangerous leader of Catholics, was ever an object of the pursuviants search; they never succeeded in his capture, but many other prizes were secured in his stead. Amongst these was taken Alexander Briant, a young man some twenty-five years of age, of gentle manners and a countenance of striking beauty. After three years at Oxford, he was reconciled and entered Douay, and in 1579 started as a priest on the English Mission. He laboured first in his own county,

Somersetshire, where he brought back Persons’ father to the Church, and thence went to London and took lodgings next to Persons, his closest and dearest friend.

On his arrest he was confined to the Counter, and in that revolting prison, in order to extract from him Persons’ whereabouts, he was for two days and nights entirely deprived of food and drink.
He then contrived to get some stale cheese and hard bread with a pint of beer, but this brought on a maddening thirst. After six days in the Counter nothing had been gained from him, and sharper methods were resolved on.

“We have written many letters, but it seems few have come to your hands. We sail in the midst of these stormy waves with no small danger, from which nevertheless it has pleased Our Lord hitherto to deliver us. We have altogether, with much comfort, renewed the vows of the Society according to our custom. I seem to see the beginnings of a religious life in England, of which we now sow the seeds with tears, that others hereafter may with joy carry in the sheaves to the heavenly granaries. We have sung the canticles of the Lord in a strange land. and in this desert we have sucked honey from the rock and oil from the hard stone. But these joys ended in sorrow, and sudden fears dispersed us into different places; but in fine we were more afraid than hurt, for we all escaped, I, with another of ours, seeking to avoid Scylla, had like to have fallen into Charybdis, but by the mercy of God we passed betwixt them both.

In another of mine I gave an account of the martyrdom of Mr Bayles and Mr Horner, and of the edification the people received from their holy ends. We also, if not unworthy, look for the time when our day shall come.”

“He set him upon high land, that he might…suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the hardest stone.” – Deut. 32, 13.

Reading for 26th December – Mementoes of the Martyrs and Confessors of England and Wales by Henry Sebastian Bowden of the Oratory

For our film about Saint Robert Southwell visit: www.marysdowryproductions.org

Saint Henry Morse meeting with Saint John Southworth - two English Martyrs also reprieved by King Charles I at the intercession of Queen Henrietta, yet both were later martyred

“After a great many labours endured in England for the Catholic faith, with great profit to souls, here rests the very Reverend George Muscot, an English priest. Having suffered the miseries of prison for above twenty years, he was condemned to death for that faith. The hurdle was waiting for him at the prison gate when, at the intercession of the Queen of England, he was reprieved by the King (Charles I). Promoted by the Supreme Pontiff to the presidency of the English College at Douay, by his government he gave new life to its discipline, and in four years of the hardest times increased its temporal estate by 20,000 florins. At length, being increased in merits but reduced by sufferings and infirmities, he gave his poor body to the earth, his rich soul to Heaven and the fragrance of his example to all priests. He died, aged sixty-five, in the fortieth year of his priesthood, the fifth of his presidency, on the eve of the Birthday of the Lord. On that same day formerly, he had been thrown into a filthy dungeon amongst felons and kept there three days, but his stay bore good fruit. Out of ten malefactors condemned to die, nine were reconciled to the Catholic faith. May he rest in peace.”

“He chose him out of all men living to offer sacrifice to God, incense, and a good savour, for a memorial to make reconciliation for his people.” – Ecclus. 45, 20.

Reading for 24th December

Mementoes of the Martyrs and Confessors of England and Wales

by Henry Sebastian Bowden of the Oratory

Reflection

Many of our English Martyrs were trained for the Catholic priesthood in Douay. Father George Muscot, although he was not martyred, suffered in prison in England for twenty years and almost received that blessed crown as the hurdle that would have dragged him to Tyburn awaited him at the prison gates. His sufferings and work for the Catholic Faith and for the English missionary priests bore much fruit for souls. Like Father Robert Persons and Father John Gerard, Father George Muscot can be remembered with the English Martyrs as great champions for the Catholic Faith in England.

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We are always grateful for support producing films on DVD about the Saints and Martyrs of the Catholic Church. If you would like to donate financially to Mary's Dowry Productions you may do so by using the button below. All financial help received is used to produce further films and gratefully appreciated. Please do not hesitate to contact us for information on upcoming films and films awaiting funding for release. You can also telephone us to make a donation on +44(0)1903 249214